The prevalence of metabolic syndrome among patients with type2 diabetes mellitus in Basrah

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of multiple metabolic abnormalities that increase the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of MetS in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods: This was a cross sectional hospital based study of patients with type 2 DM. MetS diagnosis was based on the presence of 2 of 4 metabolic abnormalities, which are hypertension, visceral obesity, high triglyceride and low high density lipoprotein. Results: Total number of patients was 200. Of these there were 145 males and 55 females. Age range was 28-88 years, and mean age 51.9 +/- 10.6 year. Over all MetS seen in 86% (82.7% of males and 94.5% of females). Conclusion: Highest prevalence of MetS was reported in this study which includes diabetic patients only, although this high figure may be due to a different definition and population studied with selection bias. The main stay of management of MetS is dietary modification and weight reduction which may delay the development of DM, improves the control of established DM and decreases morbidty and mortality associated with this syndrome.